Week 57 July 25th, 2016

Hi!

Sorry not a whole heck of a lot of time today because I lost track of

time, but the week was good! We were able to have a couple good

lessons this week. Starting slow but on the upward rise so I can't

complain.

We had zone training meeting on Wednesday and I taught how the Book of

Mormon answers questions of the soul. If you wanna know just read it -

I'm not teaching it again ;) President was there and it was good to see

him. He surprised us -  nobody knew that he was coming!

We had a service project this weekend pulling a ton of weeds/flowers

out of a field because the horses don't like them I guess... We rewarded

ourselves with a short trip to a pretty lake nearby. Reminded me of

good old Minnesota.

The work is hard right now but I'm just trying to go all in. These

next 9 months are going to fly. I still have a lot of work to do. I'm

so grateful that I decided to come out here. God and his son Jesus

Christ are so real, and because of my mission, I believe I have been

able to feel both of them in such a way that I wouldn't have been able

to had I not chosen to serve a mission.

I love you guys! Have the best week!

Dear Brother and Sister Miller,

Today I had the chance to see your son teach a group of missionaries in the old chapel of Kiel.

You can be proud of him! He did so well.

He shared with us what the restored gospel of Jesus Christ means to him. And he explained how curious he was in his own conversion process in the God-given option for families to be together forever.

With love,

President Fingerle

Week 56 July 18, 2016

Hey!

It was a quiet week this week, but we did a lot of planning for next

week:  less actives to go by, how we are going to find better and

more fun activities and how we can get people just more involved.

I was with Elder Chadwick in Flensburg on Monday. I never get sick of

that place it is so pretty. We had a lot of fun. I don't think I have

laughed so hard on the mission before. He asked me if I could cut hair

and I was like, "well I can Turk.." Turk is the style here where they

shave the sides a little and keep it long on the top. He said he needed a

little off the top and that he trusted me that I would cut with

scissors good. About 30 minutes later he got up, looked in the mirror

and we both immediately started dying. It wasn't THAT bad. You get

what you pay for, which, in this case I got nothing so.. And that was my very

first time cutting with scissors. Give it a week or 2 it will look

awesome! We had a lesson the next day with a recent convert Martin.

Really funny and cool guy. He just got his patriarchal blessing and so

we talked a little about those. We were suppose to have another one

after but it fell out.

Fast forward to district meeting and that was good. We went to

Vapiano for lunch afterwards and outside we thought there was a huge

line.. But it wasn't for the restaurant, it was apparently some good

spot for Pokemon Go??? I don't know….

We had an appointment with family Mattiesen Thursday and that's always

a good time. I absolutely get destroyed every time I go over there

because they know I'm a Justin Bieber fan. They hate Justin Bieber and

they bring it up almost every time -  it's really funny.

Other than that we were pretty much on the street. Gave out a Book of

Mormon and lots of cards and had some good discussions with people but

no one really solid. Next week will hopefully be better in terms of

luck with finding somebody. We're going to switch it up and do some

things differently and see how it goes.

Yesterday we grilled at Bruder Zickler and his wife's house. It was so

fun. They are a young couple and he is our ward mission leader. I

think Bruder Zickler is my favorite guy in the ward. His wife is an

American from North Carolina who speaks good German but he had to

learn English if he wanted to marry her. And he did and his English is

awesome but he has a heavy accent and sometimes mixes his words and it

is so funny with the type of personality he has. Sister Zickler has

migraines too and gave me some peppermint essential oil for them. Says

it really helps so I'm excited to try it out.

I love you guys so much! Thanks for the love and the emails and all of the support!

Week 55 July 11, 2016

Hiiii wonderful family

I hope everyone had a good week! It's been aight up here in Northern

Deutschland.

So not much got done Monday and Tuesday besides Elder Spangenberg

packing and saying goodbye to people. Poor kid, he really did not

want to leave. Went from one of the best wards in the mission, to a 12

man branch on the border of Poland.. .Quite the change..

Wednesday we headed to Hamburg, pretty much the main hub where all the

missionaries go through if your leaving or coming to the North. Saw so

many old homies that I hadn't seen for a while it was so cool. Waited

for a while till my new comp arrived and then we headed back to

Neumünster and he unpacked.

Well here's a little bit about my new comp Elder Morrison.. He

definitely brings a new vibe to the apartment in many ways (; He

is from Grand pass Oregon and is in his 3rd transfer. He is huge into

anime and video games. He has a sketch book full of his drawings and

they are cool! He actually carries it everywhere, even when we go

finding.. He talks with a southern German accent which drives me

absolutely nuts. He was trained up here in the north so that

doesn't even make sense, but whateves…. I better get used to it. I try

to carry on the conversations as far as I can but anime/Pokemon isn't

exactly my area of expertise.... Can only go so far until I'm just

nodding my head acting like I know what he's saying. All in all the

only thing that matters is he has a good heart and he is willing and

ready to work hard. So I'm excited.

On Thursday we rode to Elmshorn and met up with Bridge and Glissmeyer

to help new sisters there move into their apartment. We were suppose

to head up to Kiel to do a Street Display afterwards but all the

trains fell out and were delayed a few hours so we didn't end up

making it.

Friday we walked about 10 miles between finding, appointments, and

going by contacts. Here's the thing, Elder Morrison had a car in his

last area, so they walked nowhere. At the end of the day he looks at

me and says "I am so sore that's why I'm walking weird.” Poor kid!

Saturday we were in the church and the doorbell rings. There was a man

and a lady standing out there and the man said he was an inactive

member but he saw the church and wanted to stop by and say hello. We

talked for a while and the lady was his wife and she is not a member.

I asked if we could exchange numbers and get/stay in contact and he

said of course. So we're about to reactivate this guy and then tauf (baptize)

his wife:)

This week honestly felt like an eternity. It's going to be a long and

tough transfer. We haven't really got anyone to teach consistently and

we have been unable to find anyone on the street in a while. I take

that as mostly my fault and wonder what I can do better. Constantly

it's "oh I could have talked to that one more person" or "I could have

knocked on that one more door." I have "if I had done that maybe we 

could be teaching?"going on in my head. I read a talk this week that 

really hit me. I think we as people in life in general and sometimes as

missionaries in this case, feel so inadequate. We forget it's not at all about

how much we earn and physically have to show for what we have done, 

but rather just how much we plain and simply give. Are we ready to give 

everything to God and follow his commandments? Are we ready to give two

years of our lives to give others life and bring them closer to Him and his 

son? And are we ready to completely forget ourselves and simply give to

those in need? Sometimes the answer is no. Most of the time it's not 

intentional, but we come up short of these goals. 

And that's okay because that is the entire point of the atonement. 

We are not perfect. It talked about the final judgment and

how many of us picture it now as us standing before God and Jesus

Christ with clipboards in their hands saying "shoot you missed

it by two points." And we are begging for them to re-look their

clipboard over. But that's not how it is at all. Jesus will be begging

us to come live with him, and either we will grab his hand and use his

atonement, become perfect, and feel worthy to live in his presence or

we won't. It's completely up to us. God wants all of his children

back, regardless of what has happened in their lives. All that he asks

is that we give our best, and he will take care of the rest. That is

it. Our best. We should never feel inadequacy towards him. Never. He's

always listening. And he's always there to help us through whatever it

is that we are going through and whatever it is that we have done.

I love you guys

Week 54 July 4th, 2016

Ayyyyy Happy 4th 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Well transfer calls came...

I honestly could sit here and tell you how surprised I am every

time I receive transfer calls, but I'm so used to being surprised,

that I don't even get surprised anymore..

Anyways, after a quick 5 week transfer it has been determined that I'll

be staying in Neumünster and Spangybear will be shipped away.. That is

tough for 3 reasons: A: We got along good.  2: I have to take over this 

area already an it's huge. There are still members and investigators

I haven't even gotten the chance to meet yet.

and D: (haha) My new comp, Elder Morrison, is in his 3rd transfer

which means I'm going to have to do absolutely everything. 

That's totally fine. I don't mind at all, it just means I have to 

really put my game face on. I don't know much about Elder

Morrison.. I talked to him a once or twice because he was in my last

zone. I know he really likes anime... Should be an interesting

transfer. I'm excited.

Anyways it's been an aight past couple of weeks with the work. I went

on exchange with my boy and fellow Arizonian Elder Chadwick and we had

some good convos and found a couple people and made some appointments

that will be happening later this week. Shortly after we had exchanges

again with the Kiel Elders and did a street display. The most

successful of my mission.. It only ran for about an hour and a half

before we had to call it quits because of rain but it was so sick. I

handed out at least 6 books of mo mo's and made an appointment for the

Kiel Elders. We are going to be doing another one in Neumünster in a

couple weeks.

Last Sunday we had an eating appointment with a no longer Mormon

family and their active parents. We were warned before hand about

them.. I didn't know what to expect so I was a little nervous going in

that they were going to hit me with some argumentative 

questions or something. But they didn't and it was all good. They were

actually really nice.  A little different, but hilarious. The wife kept

saying that she wanted to adopt me... That went on for about a half

hour and I just kinda sat there and smiled awkwardly.. Other than that

we talked about normal things, laughed and had a good time.

I got to give my first blessing in German and it was a way cool

experience. A member asked me spur of the moment and I was caught off

guard. I actually prefer it that way because then you don't really have the

time to get an idea for what you want to say, so it forces you to let

the words come to you all through the spirit which is how it is

supposed to be. It's really a special experience and privilege to give

a priesthood blessing, especially in another language.

We went to the beach today for district pday and it was pretty fun.

Other than that nothin much. Motivation emails would be much

appreciated right about now.

I'm exhausted.

Love you🇺🇸️🇩🇪